The Next Lily and James
by PhoenixTears13
Summary: One-shot. Semi-sequel to "Not Really Sorry." Written at two a.m. in the morning on request from Alaskyn-Chic, pure Ginny and Harry fluff. Same day as "Not Really Sorry" Ginny and Harry share of cup of tea in the kitchen of the and end up quarrling.


The Next Lily and James  
  
They read you Cinderella,  
You hope it would come true  
That one day you're Prince Charming   
Would come rescue you  
  
Harry had never really been Prince Charming, not to anyone. He had been a semi-short, messy-haired boy whose parents were dead. He'd never been a Prince Charming to anyone except Ginny, and he wasn't even to her anymore. She was, however, quickly coming to be his Cinderella, or maybe his Snow White, considering the amount of brothers she had.  
She had dragged him downstairs from Ron's room where he had been staring out into the rain. There reading in the attic was long done, both becoming fed up with their reading material and too lazy to go find more suitable books he had retreated to Ron's room, watching his best friends plat tag in the rain. Just before Ginny had found him he had watched as Ron tackled a squealing Hermione to the ground. He wouldn't have bothered them anyway, with all they did for him they deserved some time to theirselves once and a while.   
Sometimes he wondered why he wasn't dead yet. With a deranged mass murderer on his tail for the past sixteen years normal people would expect him to be dead and yet he wasn't.  
  
You like romantic movies  
You never will forget  
The way you felt when Romeo kissed Juilet  
And all this time that you've been waiting  
You don't have to wait no more  
  
"Drink." Ginny ordered, pushing the tea in front of him and coming around to the back of his chair. He jumped when he felt her hands on his neck, gently kneading the knots out.  
"What are you doing?" He sputtered, craning his neck to face her. She merely smiled at him, a grin that often crossed Charlie's features it was so aimable.   
"You're stressed." She murmured, "And you need to get out all you're tension. Now drink the tea, it'll help."  
  
I can love you like that  
I would make you my world  
Move heaven and earth  
If you were my girl  
  
Ginny allowed herself only the briefest of moments to wonder why she was being so forward with him. She honestly hadn't thought about her actions until after he asked what she was doing. Growing up in a house with eight males had taught her that when someone was stressed you helped to relive the stress with tea or a massage, no questions asked. And Harry was so knotted up that he deserved both.  
She placed her hands near his collarbone, noticing that he had very broad shoulder bones as she did and continued her set task.   
"Feel better?" She asked after a moment, noticing he was relaxing beneath her fingertips, if only slightly, and had finished all but a couple gulps of his tea.  
"Yes." He replied and turned around once more to look at her, "You don't have to do this, you know."  
She made him face forward, "I want to."  
  
I would give you my heart  
Be all that you need  
Show you you're everything  
That's precious to me  
  
Ginny, bored with the regular kneading of muscles, began to rub circles with her palms on his back, "I like taking care of you." She told him, tracing along his spine and causing him to jump slightly. She quirked an eyebrow, even though he couldn't see it, "Ticklish?"  
He didn't reply. "I like taking care of you." Why was it everyone had to take care of him? What was he, five? Everyone was fine with him battling Voldermort when he was a baby and when he was younger but now that it finally came time for him to actually do something everyone wanted to baby him.  
He stood up, pulling away from her hands and stalked out of the kitchen, leaving Ginny bewildered behind.  
  
If you give me a chance  
I can love you like that  
  
"Harry!" She called after him, finally catching up with him on the stairs, "What was that about?"  
"I don't need you to take care of me." He snapped and Ginny's brown doe eyes stared up at him, hurt.  
"If you didn't like it," She said reproachfully, "You could have told me, I would have stopped."  
  
I never make a promise   
I don't intend to keep  
So when I say forever  
Forever's what I mean  
  
He ran a hand through his hair, feeling like a prat, "I'm sorry." He replied, not looking at the red-haired fireball in front of him. Could he really be that dense to turn her down? All she was doing was trying to help and he had let his pride best him, again.   
He turned to apologize once more she had already walked back into the kitchen and was cleaning up the mess he had made when he stood up. Apparently he had knocked over what was left of his tea.  
"I'm sorry." He told her again, but she didn't look at him this time, only nodded and put his empty mug up before sitting down to drink her own which had gone cold.  
He sat down across from her, attempting to catch her eye but she merely stared out at the pouring rain. "Ginny," He sighed, not liking the way she was avoiding him, "I'm really sorry."  
"I know, alright." She murmured, "I know. I made a mistake, and I'm sorry too."  
"What was your mistake?"  
  
I'm no Casanova,   
But I swear this much is true  
I'll be holdin nothin back   
When it comes to you  
  
"I forgot you weren't my brother." She replied, finishing her tea and rinsing the mug out before laying it to dry. "It's not easy to remember sometimes."  
"Oh." A brother. She thought of him as a brother? So much for his ever being her Prince Charming again. He had to ask, "A brother?"  
She shrugged, missing the dissapointment in his tone, "Not really a brother, but Mum does treat you like family. It used to be because I liked you so much and she hoped you would be family one day, now its just because she loves you like her own."  
"So…" He trailed off, Hermione had told him Ginny was over her crush on him last year, but he wanted to know for himself, "You're over it then?"  
She nodded, but didn't meet his eyes as she left the kitchen. Harry plopped down in his seat, feeling stupid.   
  
You dream of love that's everlasting  
Well baby open up your eyes  
  
I can love you like that  
I would make you my world  
Move heaven and earth  
If you were my girl  
  
So she really was over him. He sighed, they had perfect timing, they did. Here he was, wanting to be her Prince and she had probably already found someone better, someone who wasn't wanted by the Dark Lord.   
The door to the garden opened, allowing Ron and Hermione, sopping wet into the kitchen, laughing. They stopped short when they saw him at the table.  
"You okay, mate?" Ron asked, and Harry could tell he was still grinning.  
"Yeah, I'm fine." Harry replied, nodding listlessly.  
"Alright then." Hermione spoke up, "We're going to go change into some warm clothes, we'll come back down when we're done, okay?" Harry shrugged.  
They rushed past him and up the stairs, laughing the whole way up. When they reached the third floor landing, the one Ginny's room was on, Harry heard Hermione shriek, probably because Ron had tickled her.  
His shoulders slumped and he could just kick himself for wanting what they had. For envying them for it. They both deserved it, they deserved each other, with all the hippogriff dung they took from him.   
  
I would give you my heart  
Be all that you need  
Show you you're everything  
That's precious to me  
If you give me a chance  
I can love you like that  
  
Ginny fell back on her bed as Hermione left the room; she had been an idiot. Stupid stupid stupid.  
"So, you're over it." Nod. How could she have been so stupid? No she bloody well wasn't over it, but she couldn't very well tell him that. He'd never understand.   
'It's not like he cares.' Came the voice in her head, 'He's just the famous Harry Potter and you're just little Ginny Weasley.' She rolled over and burrowed her face in her pillow marveling that he could make her blush without even being in the room.  
Knock.  
Ginny sat bolt upright at the small, unexpected sound and listened for it again. And again if came, a light, tentative knock that almost scared her into falling off the bed. She knew if it were anyone besides Harry or Hermione they would have already come in the room by now. Fred and George apparated liberally, and often into her room, but they were still at work. Her mother knocked once and only once, if you didn't hear her that was too bad. Ron didn't knock at all, just barged right in and Percy, Bill and Charlie were all doing things for the Order. Or, at least Bill and Charlie were, Percy still had yet to admit he was a prat.  
Knock.  
'Don't just sit here!' Her mind ordered, 'Say something.'  
"Who is it?"  
"Umm…" The voice was male, male and painstakingly familiar, "Harry." Ginny felt her stomach tighten, "Hermione wanted me to check on you." Which was of coarse a lie, he had come up here on his own because he was tired of watching Ron stomp Hermione in chess and wanted to talk to Ginny. What about he bloody well didn't know, but he felt like talking to her.  
Ginny stood up, straightened her top and opened the door to find a very flustered Harry Potter standing there, "Yes?"  
"Er…" She gave a small giggle at his tonguetideness, "Do you…I mean would you like…I mean….would you come for a walk with me?"  
  
You want tenderness (tenderness)  
I've got tenderness  
And I see through to the heart of you  
  
He stared at her as what he had just spit out registered in both his mind and hers. Oh dear, he had just asked her to go for a walk with him in the rain! It was pouring outside and he wanted her to walk with him! She was going to think he was nuts.  
Instead, however, of rolling her eyes at him and slamming the door shut in his face she slipped back into her bright pink room and pulled an emerald green muggle hoodie off its place on her chair and slipped it on. Harry couldn't help but notice that she resembled someone he knew, someone he had never really met but knew of and had seen photos of. That and the fact that she looked wonderful in emerald green.  
"Well c'mon then." She chided, taking the steps two at a time, seemingly not hurt at his snappishness anymore. "It'll have stopped raining by the time we get out there if you continue at this pace." And she hopped down the remaining steps before rushing out the door and into the rain.  
  
If you want a man (want a man)   
Who understands  
Well you don't have to look very far  
  
The rain splashed on Ginny's head the minute she stepped foot outside the Burrow and she rolled her shoulders back, reluctantly realizing that she had tensed up after her argument with Harry. Her hair was soon plastered down her back and she whirled around to face Harry who was standing just outside the door, staring at her in wonder.  
"What?"  
In his photo album, the one Hagrid had given Harry during his first year was a certain photo that ahd been donated by Lupin. It was of his mother, wearing a brown-ish golden muggle sweater standing in the rain. It had been taken by his father, about a year before they got out of Hogwarts, when Lily and James weren't dating and had been taken from the shelter of the eves in the courtyard. Lupin had written the history of the photo on the back of it. Lily hadn't know James had taken it.   
In the photo she was in the, seeminly empty courtyard, twirling around in the rain like a carefree child, the exact same way Ginny was. Her normally semi-wavy hair was curling with the rain and it was plastered to her back. They were about the same height and had close to the same facial structure. Infact, except for the eyes Ginny could be Lily, just like Harry could be James.  
"Hello!" Ginny called, running a hand in front of his eyes, "Earth to Hary, anybody home?" He snapped his gaze to her eyes. "What's wrong?"  
  
I can love you like that  
I would make you my world  
Move heaven and earth  
If you were my girl  
  
"You…you look…" He trailed off and shook his head; Ginny stared at him.  
"I look? I look like what Harry?"  
"You look like my mother." He looked away, "And I look like my father."  
"Oh." Ginny muttered, at a loss for words and then comprehension dawned and she arched her eyebrows delicately, "Ooh."  
"Forget I mentioned it." He mumbled and she nodded, continueing to walk away with him by her side.  
  
I would give you my heart  
Be all that you need  
Show you you're everything  
That's precious to me  
  
Suddenly Ginny stopped walking, turned around and, tilting her head lightly to one side asked, "Was it your father or your mother?"  
He stared at her, realizing for the second time in a day that Ginny was making no sense, "What?"  
"Was it your father or your mother who fell in love first?"  
"My dad." Harry replied.  
"Oh."  
  
If you give me a chance  
  
Ginny stopped once more, turned to him again and, taking a deep breath stood on her tiptoes (when had he gotten this tall?) and placed her lips over his.  
Harry immediately placed his hands around her waist to support her and kissed her back.   
The rain fell silently about them as they stood under the towering oak that lined the Weasley's property and the wind whipped around them, protecting the next Lily and James in their moment of bliss.  
  
I can love you like that  
  



End file.
